I visited the courthouse in St. Clairsville, looking for early tax records, only to discover that hundreds of ledgers were piled in the basement of an outbuilding, adjoining the WICS bldg, several miles outside town......so, perhaps some of the records you seek are there. I do know, also, that many administrative papers (those from estates where the person died intestate) are stored elsewhere, and not accessable to the public. You must fill out a form there at the courthouse, with name and pertinent data, and the Probate clerks will let you know later if there is any paperwork under the persons name......they explained to me that they only went to wherever it is they have those records on an occasional basis, and thus it might be quite a while till they had time to check. I had this happen last summer, and they did let me know that there was paperwork for the person's estate I sought. The told me the $ for copies and I sent for them..... > Carol, > > Thanks so much for all the information. I appreciate it very much. The > Philip Wise in question was a landowner, and about a year ago I checked the land > records in Salt Lake City and didn't find any transfer, and so I have assumed > that the land passed to the next generation by probate. When I attempted to > access the chancery records for that period I found that they were located on > 16 rolls of microfilm, that were completely unsorted and completely out of > order and that many of the records were in a condition that were difficult to read > and understand. It would have required weeks of effort just to go through > them. I have assumed that because probate records kept track of property that > the records would have been continually accessible and that's why I brought up > the possibility that those records for that time period might have been > destroyed because they don't seem to be available anywhere. I visited the > courthouse in St. Clairsville last summer and the only probate records I could find for > that period were those associated with wills. > > Neil E. > Folsom, CA >

From what I understand, there are also court house records and stacks of ledgers stored in the attic and basement of the former Old Age home in Bannock as well as the attic of the court house. Seems records are scattered every where in a totally unorganized fashion. Have heard the St. C. Genealogy Society is working on taking over the vacated old jail next to the Court house where they might gather and house some of these old records. Perhaps they will become accessible someday. Also have heard that old school and voting records are stored in the Township Buildings through out the County. Would be nice if these could all be centralized and accessible to the public. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra Ferguson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 10:52 AM Subject: [OHBELMON-L] Belmont records > I visited the courthouse in St. Clairsville, looking for early tax records, > only to discover that hundreds of ledgers were piled in the basement of an > outbuilding, adjoining the WICS bldg, several miles outside town......so, > perhaps some of the records you seek are there. I do know, also, that many > administrative papers (those from estates where the person died intestate) > are stored elsewhere, and not accessable to the public. You must fill out a > form there at the courthouse, with name and pertinent data, and the Probate > clerks will let you know later if there is any paperwork under the persons > name......they explained to me that they only went to wherever it is they > have those records on an occasional basis, and thus it might be quite a > while till they had time to check. I had this happen last summer, and they > did let me know that there was paperwork for the person's estate I sought. > The told me the $ for copies and I sent for them..... > > > Carol, > > > > Thanks so much for all the information. I appreciate it very much. The > > Philip Wise in question was a landowner, and about a year ago I checked > the land > > records in Salt Lake City and didn't find any transfer, and so I have > assumed > > that the land passed to the next generation by probate. When I attempted > to > > access the chancery records for that period I found that they were located > on > > 16 rolls of microfilm, that were completely unsorted and completely out of > > order and that many of the records were in a condition that were difficult > to read > > and understand. It would have required weeks of effort just to go through > > them. I have assumed that because probate records kept track of property > that > > the records would have been continually accessible and that's why I > brought up > > the possibility that those records for that time period might have been > > destroyed because they don't seem to be available anywhere. I visited the > > courthouse in St. Clairsville last summer and the only probate records I > could find for > > that period were those associated with wills. > > > > Neil E. > > Folsom, CA > > > >